Blue Fire: Memoirs of a Mars Adept
by GengaJupite
Summary: His adventure is over, his son is becoming a man, and the only chronicles of his life after his travels are found in brief glimpses from someone else's story. Thirty years after his adventure, Garet decides to write an autobiography and leaves it for his son to find, detailing the life of a man like any other who ended up losing everything. Parallel to What is Happiness? Flameship
1. Prologue: The Other Story

Hey, Golden Sun fans, it's been a while! For those of you who don't know me, I am GengaJupite and this will be my second multi-chap for the GS section of the site. As it was already stated in the summary, this is the parallel story to _What is Happiness?_ that I mentioned in the conclusion of said story. While I'm hoping this won't be written in a way that forces you to have read WiH, I still recommend it, not so much for shameless self-promoting, but because it will further enhance the experience that you as the reader will have about the timeline of events (it will also make a slight bit more sense during the 'present day' segments). To anyone who actually waited the entire year that it took me to get around to writing this, my sincerest apologies. I had a lot on my plate over this past year, and it looks like I'll be taking on a lot more with this next bunch of stories I have planned.

So, without further ado, let's get this started!

Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun. All rights go to its respective owners, Camelot and Nintendo.

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_**Blue Fire: Memoirs of a Mars Adept**_

_Prologue: The Other Story_

The glow of the watercolour sunset illuminated the craggy rock surfaces of the Goma Plateau, reflecting in such a way as to cover the area in an array of oranges and browns. A precariously perched cabin rested dangerously near to the edge upon the flat peak of a massive earth spire. Connected to the main path only by a single, wooden suspension bridge, the isolation of the residence could be felt by any who might look upon it. For the dwellers of this home, it was a rather ordinary way of living, and today could have been like any other, if only for one difference.

"Tyrell, you idiot! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Who knows how long that thing's been there?! It might have gotten my dad!"

Without giving either of his two best friends time to stop him, Tyrell hurried off towards the entrance of the cabin. Despite his constant bickering with Karis, he felt as though his actions were justified in this case. It was hard to tell exactly how long he had been away from home, but with a vortex of that size looming some tens of meters away from the place he had grown up in, there was no telling if his father, nor Matthew's father for that matter, were faring well. Granted, they were two of the most powerful adepts known to man, but even they were powerless against a force that could absorb the psynergy that sustained them.

"Dad!" he cried, nearly tearing the door off its hinges. Receiving no response, sans the sound of his companions' footsteps racing after him, Tyrell rushed inside without a second thought.

"Tyrell, wait!" Karis cried, catching him by the back of his tunic as he attempted to search the cabin.

"Why do you keep stopping me?!" he retorted angrily, whirling around so he could glare at her. "If they're collapsed and hurt, then–"

"Then what?" Karis asked sternly, her expression matching the sound of her voice perfectly. "Rushing in all frantic won't do us any good. I'm sure they're fine, so try to handle this calmly."

"Like hell!" he growled, forcing her hand from his clothing. "This is a real emergency, and I'll be damned if I let my dad die because of you! If your parents were in this situation, you wouldn't be so calm either!"

"That's enough," Matthew interjected before Karis could retaliate. As both of the arguing adepts turned their attention to him, Matthew continued, "You're both getting too worked up over this. It's too early to say if our dads got out safely yet, but I don't think that vortex in particular got them; otherwise, we'd be feeling its effects right now. In any case, I'll search upstairs and you guys cover the this floor, okay?"

Slowing his heavy breathing, Tyrell realized that Matthew was right, as was usual of their spiky-haired leader. Despite the vortex' relatively large size, the flame user didn't feel fatigued to any significant extent, which meant that it wasn't close enough for its effects to take hold. That being said, they were unable to tell whether the vortex was currently growing or dissipating, so they were potentially still on a time constraint.

Turning away from Karis, Tyrell grunted his acknowledgement of Matthew's orders and stormed down the hall to where the office and spare room were, leaving the others to their respective searches.

It was immediately apparent that neither his father nor Isaac were in either of these rooms, and judging from the sound of Matthew's steady footsteps overhead and Karis' lack of indication she'd found something, it would be safest to assume that both men had escaped to safety or were simply out somewhere else at the moment.

After scouring the spare room for anything they may have left behind, Tyrell turned his attention toward the office, leaving the white sheets of the spare room in shambles about the floor. Creaking open the door to where his and Matthew's fathers kept their notes on the activities of active Mt. Aleph, the Mars adept quickly went about flipping through some of the many open books and loose papers scattered about the room. After an unsuccessful search for anything useful in the current situation, Tyrell stood to leave, only to have something catch his eye.

How he had failed to notice the leather-bound book sitting on the main desk in the room was beyond him. Stepping over to it, he carefully picked it up and watched as a note fell out. Grabbing it before it could flutter to the ground, the young man wasted no time in darting his eyes across the parchment.

_Tyrell and Matthew,_

_If we are not here when you find this, then please take with you only what you must and go to Kalay. By now, Ivan and Jenna will have heard from us, so there will be no need to explain to them why you haven't returned home. As much as we would like to tell you kids what's going on, that isn't information we can disclose for the time being. For now, hold onto the Roc's Feather and find a place to stay in Kalay._

_Isaac and Garet_

_P.S. Tyrell, the book you are currently holding is for you. Don't read it until you've found a place to stay. –Dad_

Was that it? No clue as to where they were or why they had to leave? Tyrell flipped the small piece of parchment over a few times as if it might reveal some kind of hidden message, but when nothing showed itself, he sighed and turned to leave the office while keeping a tight grip on the book he'd been entrusted with.

After explaining to the others what he had found and showing them the note, the three of them gathered what they could from the Lookout Cabin and hurriedly fled from the site. If they were lucky, they would be able to make it to the bottom of the mountain trail before nightfall, and from there the road to Kalay was relatively flat and easily traversable, regardless of how little light they would have. Since the note did not say they were in any immediate danger, nor that they would have to warn the citizens at Patcher's Place, the three adepts bypassed the small mountain community and heeded the adults' instructions to the dot.

As expected, the skies were dark when they passed through the gates of Kalay, and each of them were glad to see paved paths and the residential buildings illuminated by the torchlight along the roads.

"Your mom's place is closest to here, right?" Tyrell directed the question to Matthew as they paced down one of the paved brick roads.

"Yeah," he replied quietly, readjusting one of the straps slung over his shoulder. "I haven't seen her in a few years, though. This might be…a little weird."

"You'll be fine," Karis reassured him. "It's not like any of us are strangers, and besides, that note said that she already heard about what's going on, so there shouldn't be any problems."

Matthew shrugged, and the three friends stopped at a fork in the road where their paths would split.

"Sorry, Tyrell," Matthew apologized, a slightly guilty expression on his face, "I'd offer to let you stay at my place, but…well, you know that it's really only good for accommodating two people. I mean, it was fine when we were kids, but–"

"I know, it's fine," Tyrell waved off the apology, finding it unnecessary. "I still have enough gold to last me at least a month at the inn, so I'll be okay for now. Really, don't feel bad about it."

With only a simple goodbye, Tyrell and Karis watched Matthew head off for Jenna's household before the two of them continued down the path towards their destinations. Every so often, Karis would cast Tyrell furtive glances, quickly looking away whenever he so much as sniffed. While he pretended not to notice, her constant looks were beginning to irritate him. Giving no warning, he suddenly turned towards her before she had a chance to look the other way.

"Eep!" she squealed, jumping slightly at his sudden movement. "D-Don't do that! You scared me half to death!"

"Oh, excuse me," Tyrell retorted sarcastically, returning his gaze to the path before them. "I didn't realize there was a double standard on staring at people."

Karis grumbled something incomprehensible, and Tyrell flicked his eyes in her direction to see her cheeks flushed slightly, though he couldn't be sure if she was embarrassed from freaking out or getting caught looking at him.

After what felt like hours of awkward silence, Tyrell sighed and turned to Karis. "So, are you gonna tell me why you were staring at me or are we just going to keep walking with all this awkwardness?"

"…you…inn…" Karis mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Are…stay…"

"Uh…come again?"

"Ugh, I said 'are you really going to stay at an inn?!'"

This time, it was Tyrell's turn to jump at her sudden outburst, and while he didn't cry out as she had, his expression was certainly animated enough to match the scream she had earlier elicited. When he found that his heart rate had returned to normal, the Mars adept was able to take a breath and respond to her question.

"Probably. It's not like I have a family to stay with like you and Matthew do. Why? What's it to you?"

Wearing an unsatisfied look on her face, Karis puffed up one of her cheeks. As hard as he tried, Tyrell couldn't tell what she was thinking, and it was times like these that he wished he had Ivan's mind-reading powers or Sveta's Spirit Sense. Unfortunately, there was no way he would ever acquire such abilities naturally, so he would have to continue wondering about the minds of women for the rest of his life, granted it wasn't as though understanding people of any gender had proven very easy for him.

"Well, I…" Karis started slowly, shaking her head as she tried to reform whatever it was she was trying to say. "It's just that…no… I was thinking… Um…"

"Sometime tonight would be nice."

"You needed to read that book, right?" she suddenly blurted, pointing to the top of the book peeking out of one of Tyrell's bags.

Scratching his head in the utmost confusion, Tyrell pulled the book out of his bag as if it might help him understand why she had made such a random statement; it didn't. "Uh, yeah? I'm supposed to start it once I get settled someplace. What does me staying at an inn have anything to do with it?"

Karis fidgeted with her fingers as she twirled them in little circles in front of her. Tyrell watched as she unconsciously created tiny sparks between her fingertips, and continued to be confused by her…_odd_ facial expression. She seemed to be avoiding looking at him, though he couldn't understand why. Then again, if there was a reason for her acting so weird, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Well, i-inns don't have very good lighting," she stuttered in a failed attempt to sound matter-of-fact, continuing to keep her gaze away from him. "It'll be hard to read if y-you're just using an oil lamplight."

"I'm a Mars adept. If I have to, I'll make my own light source."

"Y-You could, but then you'll risk burning the pages. That's p-probably the only copy of that book, so if you burn it–"

"Karis, just spit it out already. Look, both of us are tired, so the sooner you say what you need to, the quicker we can head off and get to bed."

"Ifyouwantyoucanstayatmyhousebutit'snotlikeIwantyoutooranythingokay?"

An awkward silence ensued as the two of them stopped walking. Karis had her eyes tightly shut and her body tensed, bracing herself for some kind of reaction, as if she thought he might laugh at her for what she'd just said. In truth, Tyrell was taking a moment to determine whether or not he'd actually understood what she said. He was fairly certain he'd caught everything, but his reason for being unsure was that she was acting so strangely about it. There was no reason for her to be embarrassed; then again, was this how she usually acted when embarrassed?

Chuckling slightly and gently patting her head, he playfully raised an eyebrow as she opened her eyes and relaxed her muscles. "Why are you acting so weird about this? Were you embarrassed to invite me to stay at your place?"

"N-No! I just don't usually invite guys over…"

"It wouldn't be the first time I've stayed over before."

"We aren't kids anymore, Tyrell. Believe it or not, it's kind of embarrassing for people our age to invite members of the opposite sex to stay over at their house."

"Then, should I just thank you for the offer but stay at the inn anyway? I mean, if you're embarrassed by it, then I can just save you the trouble."

"Grah! You're so frustrating, you know that?!"

Without giving him a chance to respond, the Jupiter adept firmly grasped his wrist and dragged him along the path, passing the road to the inn without hesitation. Unable to fully wrap his head around her thought processes, Tyrell simply laughed and allowed her to pull him along to her home.

Upon reaching the small manor, Karis, in her angered state, threw the front doors open with a fair amount of force. Standing before them was Ivan, looking as though he was about to head off to bed. A pair of gold-rimmed spectacles sat upon the man's nose, slightly magnifying his half-opened eyes. His face was slightly unshaven, though not unkempt, and the older adept blinked a few times before any sort of greeting was made.

"Ah, Karis, you're back," he said plainly, as if she had simply stepped out to run an errand as opposed to being gone for months on end.

However, in her current state of mind, she dismissed her father's lack of a greeting so she could drag Tyrell all the way into the main hall. "Yes, I'm home. And this lug is going to be staying with us because he doesn't have anywhere else to go."

Upon hearing such a statement, Ivan's eyes opened all the way, and he pushed his glasses up in a devious manner. In all the years he had been working on serious projects, Ivan's slight mischievous streak had never left him. Even his first project on harnessing the power of electricity in machines had been used as a practical joke upon his wife Samantha, for which he had paid for appropriately; however, thanks to this unorthodox test, their home was one of few that contained electrically powered light.

"Is he now?" Ivan chortled, slowly crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Well, I certainly have no problem with it, but we'll have to let your mother know." Turning his head over his shoulder to call up the stairs, Ivan kept his eyes focused on his daughter and Tyrell. "Oh, Saaaam! Karis is back, and she brought home a boy that she _insists_ will be living with us from now on!"

"WHAT?!" Almost immediately after the words left his mouth, a woman bearing a striking resemblance to Karis with slightly bluer hair came rushing down the stairs in naught but a bathrobe. Before they knew what was happening, both Tyrell and Karis were being held up by the collars of their shirts, feet dangling while the surprisingly strong, non-adept woman glared at them. However, after taking a moment to realize who they were, she softened her gaze and put them back down.

"Hi, Mom," Karis chuckled sheepishly.

"Welcome home, sweetie," Sam responded, sharply turning toward her husband and smacking him on the head. "Ivan, I'm getting real tired of your crap."

Ivan simply chuckled and stuck out his tongue, rubbing the top of his head where Sam had hit him. "Heh, you've been saying that for the past eighteen years, but I haven't seen any divorce papers. You must love me too much."

"Nope, I'm in it for the money. I hope you die soon so that I get to keep everything."

"Oh, don't be that way. I'll leave it all to my other wife if you keep acting like this."

Playfully bantering all the way back upstairs, Karis and Tyrell were soon left alone, rather unsure of how to feel react after witnessing such an unusual exchange of words. It was quiet enough that the hum of electric lights throughout the manor could be heard, and it wasn't until Karis cleared her throat that any other sound was made.

"G-Gods, they are such _teenagers_, it's embarrassing!"

Tyrell blinked at her a couple of times before letting out a breathy chuckle over her ironic statement. Knowing exactly how Karis and her parents acted, he would never have to question where she got her genes.

"The guest room is this way, right?" Tyrell asked, pointing down one of the halls.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Karis said as she began leading the way. Once there, she bid him goodnight and left him to unpack the few belongings he'd managed to bring.

With everything unpacked, Tyrell changed into a pair of sleeping shorts and threw his shirt off. He had no intention of going to sleep right away, but it was more convenient to be ready for it in case he passed out unexpectedly.

Crawling under the covers, the muscular sixteen-year-old leaned against the headboard and clicked on the lamp beside his bed. While Karis' argument that the inn's oil lamps were too dim for reading was a pathetic excuse for why he should stay at her manor, he certainly appreciated the brightness of electricity, though the concept of how it worked never ceased to confound him.

Reaching to the leather-bound book sitting on the desk beside him, Tyrell flipped open the cover to read the title of the book his father had left for him.

"Blue Fire: Memoirs of a Mars Adept," he read aloud, scratching his head in a mixture of interest and confusion. "Did Dad want to leave me with…an autobiography?"

"Ah, so you have it with you," a voice said from the doorway, startling Tyrell as he was about to turn the page. Looking up, he saw Ivan standing there with his face clean-shaven and glasses hanging by a chain around his neck. "It's a good read, especially since I never would have taken Garet for a writer."

"You've read this?" Tyrell asked, looking back down at the neat curvature on the cover page.

"Sure, a few months back when he first finished it," Ivan said nonchalantly, leaning against the doorframe in a more comfortable position. "For the most part, I already knew about everything from either being there or hearing about it directly from him. Well, I guess I read his mind a couple times, too, but usually it was accidental, as I'm sure you know that my abilities have heightened to the point where I almost automatically read people's thoughts without trying to."

Flipping through the pages and seeing that each one was filled with words, diagrams, and dated photographs from when the camera was first invented, Tyrell returned to the cover page and looked back up at Ivan. "Why did he leave this with me? If he wanted to tell me about his life, couldn't he have just done it in person?"

Ivan simply shook his head and closed his eyes, adopting a more serious expression on his face. "I'm sure he would if he could, but it's not quite as simple as that. You were likely too young to remember this, but I was surprised when Isaac told you, Matthew, and Karis about his story following our adventure. You see, after we returned, both he and your father went through more hardship than most people experience in their entire lives, and it took them a long time to recover. Garet was always better at hiding it, but I think that's why it might have eaten away at him for a longer amount of time."

"You mean–"

"I believe he left you with that because he wants you to know about him, but he couldn't find the strength to tell you directly. There are quite a few things in there; things about Garet's past, the good times, the bad times, and even things about your mother."

Tyrell's eyes widened at the last statement. His mother, a woman he had never met, nor had ever asked about. He wasn't even sure if it was a real memory, but Tyrell seemed to recall someone saying it was a touchy subject to bring up around his father, so he had simply never questioned it. However, that did not mean that the young man was not curious about the woman who had given birth to him. In fact, he often wondered who she was, where she was, and why his father was not with her. These were just a few of the questions he had but knew he could not ask about. Would this book really answer everything he wanted to know?

"Yes, yes it will," Ivan said, apparently having read Tyrell's mind inadvertently, "though I can't promise that everything in that book is positive; in fact, the tragic events far outweigh the good, even if they are fewer in number. I know for sure that there is at least one lesson that Garet wants you to take from reading that book."

"Oh, what's that?" Tyrell asked, sticking his fingers under the cover page as he prepared to turn it.

Standing up straight and smiling, Ivan spoke once more before closing the door and heading off to bed, leaving Tyrell to read in privacy.

"You'll have to read it and find out for yourself."

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Ah, a fresh start to a new-ish premise on a familiar story. For anyone who read WiH: Yes, this will be presented in much the same manner that its parent story was, with the story having small sections from the 'present'. In this story, however, the main people involved are Tyrell and Ivan, with the others (Karis, Matthew, Sam, potentially Jenna) possibly having small roles, as his reading won't all be completed in one sitting, as opposed to how Isaac's story was told all in one go.

For any newcomers who did not read WiH, I'll try to cover any confusing bits here, but feel free to ask questions in your reviews and I'll message you back about them, though if it will be covered in the story, then I will say as much.

**1:** Samantha is an OC and Ivan's wife/Karis' mother. As stated, she is a non-adept who looks almost exactly like an older Karis except that her hair is slightly more blue-green than green. Since I may glaze over this later without explaining it, she's also a professor on psynergy stones at the University of Kalay.

**2:** While this prologue gives the impression of being a story about Tyrell, do not be fooled, as it is very much not, thus the reason it is a prologue as opposed to the first actual chapter. Throughout the story, Tyrell and Ivan will have small conversations that "interrupt" the story, but this is simply because the actual story itself has already happened in a sense. Trust me, that explanation sounds a lot more confusing than it actually is.

**3:** Ivan, Sam, and Karis live in a manor because Ivan is the adopted son of the ruler of Kalay, a city that basically blew up to the size of a kingdom. Aside from being the son of a merchant king or whatever Hammet would be considered, Ivan is also an engineer/inventor, hence the canonical invention of the Soarwing and as this story's inventor of harnessing electricity (he's like the Ben Franklin of Weyard). TL;DR, Ivan's adoptive family is rich, he makes a lot of money, his wife makes a lot of money.

**4:** I'm a Sparkshipper. There won't be any explicit Sparkshipping (nor any DD ships since this is a story about the original eight), but it may come up in those "interruptions."

**5:** Again, though it shouldn't be necessary, I really do recommend reading WiH, as it will really help your understanding of the story. In fact, you could even do it after this story is complete, since neither is a sequel to the other (except for the 'present day' segments, but those aren't nearly as important). Hopefully I'm not coming off as a shameless advertisement for myself, but I really think it'll help your understanding.

I think that should cover any questions you might have, but as I said before, ask me if you're unsure about anything and I'll get it cleared up. And for all the WiH readers who know what ultimately happens with Garet and who Tyrell's mother is and whatever else, don't go spouting spoilers in your reviews. It may be tempting, but if you do, I'll just end up removing your review so that it doesn't ruin it for everyone else.

Well, that about does it for this. Thanks for checking it out and I hope you'll stick around! Don't forget to leave a review!

_-GengaJupite_

P.S. – **GoldenSunGuy17**, I swear to Sol if you start reading this story and don't update _The Guardians_ sometime soon, I will literally slap you through the Internet. No joke. I'm thankful that you're helping me rebuild Norende in _Bravely Default_ but you seriously need to update that shit.

P.P.S. – Droory will second this notion.

P.P.P.S – But seriously, do it.

P.P.P.P.S – Do it nao. Baaakaaa~


	2. Ceremony: A Hero's Home

No reviews? Sad face, though I'm not too surprised, considering Flameshipping isn't as big as Vale, Mud, Dawn, Spark, Spirit, and whatever else is trending right now. Ah well, it's still too early in the story anyway. Hopefully things pick up from here.

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter one

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_Ceremony: A Hero's Home_

Home. It was a sight Garet and his companions thought they might never see again. It was a marvelous sight to behold, and the adepts were glad to be in a welcoming place after all of their hardships.

Having finally completed the rebuilding of New Vale on a mountain farther from where Mt. Aleph once stood, the villagers were able to breathe peacefully once again. It had taken two long years, but with aid coming from both Vault and Kalay, everyone was simply glad to see the village restored to all its former glory. From the endless green pastures to the sparkling river flowing down the centre, every survivor from the Golden Sun event could agree that this new village was equal to, if not better, than the original.

Though the teachings of Vale had always contradicted what the heroes' efforts ended up becoming, it was clear that the world had not been destroyed upon the lighting of the beacons. With further explanation from the Wise One prior to the Golden Sun event, the Valeans were saved from destruction thanks to the very conflicting nature of their teachings. While it had initially been difficult to accept that generations of their knowledge were false, no citizen of Vale could deny that Weyard had been saved, and thus the end justified the means.

At the north end of town, the villagers began filing out of the sanctum, their cheerfulness perfectly reflected onto the sunny scenery. On this day, the day that marked the completion of New Vale, it seemed only fitting to reward the heroes of Weyard. Complete with titles befitting royalty, each adept had been knighted in what may be remembered as one of New Vale's most extravagant ceremonies. For some of the heroes, the idea of being deemed saviours was more than they had ever imagined becoming.

"Sir Garet: Hero of Flames, huh?" Garet mumbled to himself as he exited alongside the others. "Probably the best title out of everyone's."

"Pfft, you wish," Jenna laughed and shoved him slightly. "It's so plain! I don't usually judge things the Great Healer does, but he should have put some more thought into your title."

"You're just jealous because you got 'Fiery Justice'. What does that even mean? By the way, 'Sir Garet' sounds way better than 'Dame Jenna'. People will call me 'Sir' now, but you're still just plain old Jenna."

"Why, you!"

"Play nice now, kids," Felix chuckled, stepping between his sister and Garet. "Are you really arguing about receiving a prestigious title from the Great Healer? I swear, have either of you ever heard the word 'humility' once in your lives?"

Both Mars adepts gave each other another playful glare and turned away. With Felix there, they wouldn't be able to finish this argument right now, but they most definitely would later.

"Besides," the older Venus adept added, "the best title is obviously 'Lord Felix: Protector of Weyard and Slayer of Darkness'."

Laughing at the older man's added quip, Garet turned around to say something to Isaac, but gave a confused look upon noticing the absence of his best friend amongst their usual group of eight. "Hey, where'd Isaac run off to?"

"He said he had something he wanted to check out," Ivan answered plainly. "I think he had a place in mind, but he wouldn't say where."

"Lazy bum," Garet chuckled, resting his hands behind his head as the group began filing down a long staircase. "I bet he's just making up some excuse so he doesn't have to help set up for the party."

"Lazy? Are you talking about Isaac or yourself, Garet?" Sheba giggled. Everyone laughed along, and Garet even cracked a smile; after all, she wasn't exactly incorrect.

When the group of companions reached the inn where the party would be held, they all got straight to work with whatever they could. Jenna went into the kitchens to help with the cooking, Mia began washing dishes, Ivan and Sheba began setting up decorations, and the remaining three young men were left to help with the manual labour: moving tables, setting up the band's space, sweeping up the floors, amongst other things.

Despite having spent the past two years doing nothing but aiding in the construction of New Vale, Garet found this work to be rather enjoyable, refreshing even. It wasn't as though the work itself was much easier than some of the other tasks he'd had to perform, but the fact that they were doing this for recreation rather than the restoration of their lives made it seem much more relaxed. If this was how things in New Vale would continue, then he would gladly accept such an easygoing lifestyle.

As the sun began to set on the horizon, the final touch-ups were made on the inn. Clapping the dust from his hands, Garet gratefully plopped himself down onto a chair and let out a deep breath.

"Will you have enough energy for the actual party?" Mia giggled, stepping out from the kitchen with Jenna.

"Heh, you kidding, Mia?" Garet chuckled sending a big grin in the girls' direction. "As soon as the music starts going, I'll be up and moving like there's no tomorrow."

"The irony being that this party is to celebrate the fact that there _will_ be a tomorrow," the healer stated amusedly as she came and sat at the table with him.

Garet's eyes followed Jenna as she exited the building and hurried off into the village. Though he knew just how obvious he was being, he couldn't seem to take his eyes off her cinnamon hair flowing behind her as she quickly made her way up the hill. Before long she was out of sight, and he was left staring out the window.

"I guess she went to find Isaac," he mumbled quietly, more as a voiced thought than to create a conversation.

"It would seem that way," Mia answered in a peaceful manner. "I'm sure she is anxious to see her boyfriend after spending all day in the kitchens, especially while he was off doing something else."

"Makes sense."

There was a brief silence between the two of them, filled in only by the sounds of Felix, Piers, Sheba, and Ivan talking about something or other over the bar counter. Though his attention was fixed out the window, Garet could feel Mia's gaze focused on him. Slowly turning toward her, he felt slightly confused to see her giving him what appeared to be a sympathetic smile.

"You're…a very good friend, Garet," she said as he was about to open his mouth to speak.

Blushing slightly, the flame user diverted his eyes for a moment to regain his composure. "O-Of course I am! …But what makes you say that?"

Watching as she turned her gaze out the window where he had watched Jenna from, Mia explained herself. "You don't need to pretend for me, Garet. I know how you feel about Jenna; it's fairly obvious from the way you speak with and look at her. I'm sure it must hurt you to see her and your best friend together, even if only a little bit. You don't let it show, though; at least, not when they're around. Your kindness never ceases to surprise me."

Again, Garet found himself looking away from the healer to hide his flushed cheeks. Had he really been so obvious, or was it simply that Mia was being perceptive of his actions? He had never tried very hard to hide his feelings for Jenna, but he had hoped that it only looked as though he was very close with her. To have someone tell him outright that they knew made him feel a little insecure about his situation.

"I-It's nothing worth being proud of," Garet stuttered a bit. "Jen and Isaac…well, they've always sort of been a couple. I mean, they didn't get together until we started rebuilding, but everyone in town always knew they would get together someday; I was no exception. I can't say I'm not jealous, but I'm happy that things have worked out for them. Besides, it's not like Jenna's the only girl in New Vale; maybe I'll find someone else."

"Mm," Mia hummed. Gracefully getting to her feet, the Mercury adept turned to Garet before exiting the inn. "I think I'll go for a walk before the party begins. Thank you, Garet. You've given me some helpful insight into a personal matter of my own."

Before he had a chance to ask her what she meant, Mia was already out the door and on her way. Watching the aqua-haired girl out the window, Garet noticed as Jenna came into view and stopped to say something to Mia. Though he couldn't tell what they were saying, he got an idea from when Mia spoke and Jenna replied by pointing in the direction from where she had just come from. Continuing on their separate ways, Jenna re-entered the building a few moments after.

"D'you find Isaac?" Garet called to her.

"Yep!" she said happily, bouncing over to where he was and taking the seat Mia had previously been in. "He was just standing up on the bridge: the one by the big pond next to the sanctum. You were right about him being lazy, though. He's just been up there looking at the water this whole time."

Garet grinned, shaking his head as he let out a breathy chuckle. "He'll never change, will he? Maybe he's subtle about it with other people, but I know him too well for any of his tricks to work on me."

"That's one of the perks of having childhood friends," Jenna laughed, leaning back in her chair, "we can see exactly what each other are thinking pretty much whenever we want. There's no need for Jupiter adepts when it's just us three."

"Oh, so are we just dead weight?"

Jumping slightly, the two Mars adepts turned to see that Ivan and Sheba had strolled over to their table. Both of the younger teens smirked down at their slightly guilty-looking friends. There was never any telling what might happen if Ivan or Sheba caught a remark or fleeting thought that could be viewed in a negative way. Of course, they never tended to take such things to heart, but it was in their nature to retaliate by playing some kind of prank on the one who had made the remark or thought.

"Don't tease them," Felix said as he and Piers made their way from the bar counter. Tousling Sheba's hair, he added, "They're probably not smart enough to deny it, anyway."

"Hey!"

"I doubt I will ever understand how you are able to speak about your own sister in such a negative manner, even if only in a jest," Piers half-sighed, half-chuckled.

While Garet was rather used to being teased, Jenna's red cheeks and unhappy expression spoke volumes. Angrily getting to her feet, she stormed off to the kitchen, leaving the spotlight on the only other Mars adept. However, rather than playing along with his friends' teasing, Garet stood up a few moments later and followed after her. He was pretty sure that Jenna was not actually angry, but it could never hurt to check; after all, Jenna wasn't exactly what one might describe as cool, calm, and collected.

Cautiously stepping onto the stony floors of the kitchen, Garet peeked his head around the corner to see Jenna taking her anger out on a boiling pot of water. Despite the unsightly burn marks on the pot, he was relieved that she had found a rational way to blow off some steam, both literally and figuratively. Sighing, he stepped in and made his presence known by clearing his throat.

"You know they were just kidding," he said nonchalantly, leaning casually against the counter beside one of the sinks. "Ivan and Sheba are always like that. Felix seems a little more smug and playful than usual, but I don't really think I'd call that a bad thing."

At first, Jenna didn't respond, and Garet was afraid that his words might only have furthered the brunette's anger. However, he relaxed as the flames beneath the pot shrunk in size and the steam cleared up a bit.

"I'm not mad at them," she grumbled without looking at him. "It just ticks me off when they push my buttons, y'know?"

"Yeah, but isn't it better to have friends that can do that sort of thing? I mean, if they didn't know just the right buttons to push, then that would mean they aren't as close, right?" Realistically, Garet knew that it didn't take much to sour Jenna's mood, but he knew from experience that saying that out loud would only make her angry.

"I guess, but it's still annoying," she huffed. The flames finally went out, and Jenna crossed her arms as she leaned against the counter opposite Garet. "It's not like you or Isaac ever do those types of things to me–"

_Only because we know what'll happen if we do…_

"–and I don't know what makes them mad! Wouldn't that mean that I don't know them as well as they know me?"

"Well, they _do_ have the ability to read minds, so…"

"You're missing the point! If we're such great friends, then _I _should be able to get on their nerves without being able to read minds!"

Garet twisted his mouth and flexed his brain with all his might, but there was something about the way Jenna's argument was going that he simply could not follow. Was her point that Ivan and Sheba shouldn't bother her, or that she should know exactly how to bother them? Maybe she was arguing both, but then that would make her whole argument some kind of double standard, wouldn't it? As it stood right now, she was already upset that there was a sort of double standard, so that couldn't be what she was complaining about. In any case, this appeared to be the ever mind-baffling 'woman logic' that Garet had usually been resourceful enough to avoid getting himself involved with.

"Um…sure," he mumbled confusedly, going with the only option he thought could be correct: agreeing with her.

The sound of approaching footsteps stopped Jenna from replying, and both flame users quickly cast their eyes toward the entryway. Moments later, a white-clad, moustached man stepped in. Slightly surprised to see the two of them, he informed them that the party would be starting soon and that he would be able to take over the kitchen without their, or rather Jenna's, help from here. Nodding in affirmation, the two slipped out of the kitchen and into the main area where the band had already begun setting up their instruments on stage.

"Oh, I should go get Isaac and Mia!" Jenna said.

"I'll go with you," Garet added, but by the time the words left his mouth, Jenna had somehow already made it through the door and out of sight from the window. Sighing, the spiky redhead quickly took off after her.

Almost magically, Jenna had vanished from sight when Garet stepped outside. Considering there weren't many people out, it should have been somewhat simple to spot her. There wasn't any particular reason Garet had for going with her, but even the simple act of being by her side during a menial task like getting their friends was something that made him feel happy. He was well aware that doing so would not change the relationship shared between him and Jenna; he simply did it because he felt happier by her side.

"But seriously, where did she go?" he mumbled as he began heading up the hill. His only information was that Isaac had been up by the pond this whole time, and while the main objective was to go retrieve him, Garet's objective was to be with Jenna.

He began to drag his feet a bit as that thought sank into his head a bit more. Did he have the right to do what he was doing? Sure, he had no intention of making a move on her or anything of the sort, but Jenna already had a boyfriend. It wasn't just any random guy either; her boyfriend was his closest friend. Was he subconsciously making underhanded moves to weasel his way in between his best friends? As much as he wanted to believe that he wasn't, Garet couldn't shake the thought that his unconscious instincts were acting against his moral standings.

"A good friend," he quoted Mia's words from before. "Heh, if I were such a good friend, I wouldn't be trying to get so close to Jen. An actual good friend would keep his feelings to himself or just back off and try to move on. If anything, I'm a sneaky friend."

As he turned around the side of a short plateau, Garet was suddenly knocked to the ground. Hidden behind the wall of earth, he didn't see the person coming, though getting lost in his thoughts probably hadn't helped much either. Groaning and slowly getting to his feet, he looked clearly to see who it was that had knocked him over. Of course, though, of all the people that could have collided with him, it had to be her.

"You big lug!" Jenna cried as she jumped up to her feet. "Watch where you're going!"

"H-Hey, take it, ow, easy, Jenna!" he defended, shielding himself after being punched in the head. "I couldn't see you around that wall!"

"Yeah, but you should've heard me! I was just calling up to Isaac and Mia about two seconds ago, so it's not like it should have been a surprise that I was right there!"

"Huh, you were?" Apparently his absentmindedness had deafened him to the sound of Jenna's voice. It was strangely ironic for thoughts of Jenna to cloud his senses from noticing her actual presence.

He cringed as she landed another good smack to his head and stormed off back towards the inn. Ever the quick-tempered one, but he wouldn't change anything about her. Turning away from the agitated girl, he looked up to see Isaac playfully escorting Mia down the hill, his arm held out for her as if he were taking her to a fancy ball of some sort. With the sun setting over the horizon just behind them, they almost seemed like a couple, though Garet couldn't fall for such a thought like that. It had likely manifested in his head with the hope that if Isaac and Mia were a couple, then he might actually have a shot with Jenna.

Shaking his head at his own inability to stop his mind from wandering, Garet turned back towards the inn and paced himself down the hill, ever mindful not to catch up to Jenna or to allow Isaac and Mia to catch up to him.

Despite his earlier claim to be fully energized upon hearing the music, Garet found himself sitting at a table with a tall mug of ale in his hand. Across from him, he watched while Sheba tried to drag an unmoving Felix onto the dance floor. Turning his auburn eyes toward the dance floor, his gaze almost immediately landed on Isaac and Jenna.

Taking big gulps from his mug, Garet couldn't help noticing just how cheerful Jenna looked as she bounced around and spun under Isaac's arm. She always looked so happy with him, no matter what sort of situation it was. That wasn't to say that Jenna seemed unhappy around Garet, but to him it felt as though their relationship consisted solely of arguing and bickering, whether playful or real. While he had accepted that this was just the way that their relationship was, he always felt envious of Isaac's and her compatibility. Why was it that they just clicked while he found himself as the odd piece to their three-person puzzle?

"You know, you shouldn't stare so obviously."

Clacking his mug back on the table, Garet turned to see Mia pulled up beside him. Smirking, he simply pointed to his ale mug. "If I get caught, I'll blame it on this guy right here. I'm not really what you'd call a light drinker."

Mia smiled gently and slowly exhaled as a waitress came and brought him another mug. "If you want to dance with her, I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

Choking as he took the first sip of his ale, Garet slowly placed the mug back down and gave the healer a serious look. "Don't say stuff like that so casually. Besides, I can't just go up there and take her from Isaac. I'd look like a total scumbag if I did something like that."

"You're just overthinking it," Mia said, glancing over to where the couple was dancing. "They've had a few drinks as well, though not as many as you have. I'm sure if you went over there and danced _with_ them, then I think it would be fine."

"Maybe, but I don't want to feel like the awkward third wheel or anything like that. Why are you trying to push me to go up there, anyway?"

Mia blinked at Garet, pausing for a moment before forming some kind of answer. "Pushing you? I wasn't trying to do that; you just seemed like you wanted to go dance with her. The way you were staring at her–"

"Okay, okay, I got it," Garet interrupted, making sure that no one had heard what she was saying. "Look, thanks for the gesture, Mia, but I'd rather handle things on my own. I don't wanna overstep my boundaries or anything, so if that means sitting here and watching them have a good time, then I'll do exactly that."

He half-expected Mia to make some sort of remark, but when she didn't, he shrugged and quickly downed his ale. For a while, the only activity occurring at their table was Sheba's continued efforts to pull Felix to the dance floor. With each drink that he finished, Garet caught himself staring at Jenna again and again. Interestingly enough, whenever he turned away from them, he would usually find Mia staring not at him, but at the dancing couple as well. Thanks to the drinks he'd had, his hesitation in asking awkward questions was more or less eradicated at this point.

"Say, Mia," he slurred a bit, "what did you have to talk about with Isaac earlier?"

"With I-Isaac?" she squeaked, her cheeks turning a bit pink. "N-Nothing in particular. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. You said something about me helping you out before you went off for a walk. Then I saw you and Isaac playing around when you were coming back down the hill, so I didn't know what you were doing."

"W-We didn't do anything!" she stammered, waving her hands in front of his face. "You can't just go saying things like that, Garet! There's nothing between Isaac and me, and he's with Jenna, anyway! A-Accusing me of–"

"Accusing?" Garet cut her off, cocking his head to the side in confusion. "Who accused you of anything? All I said was that you guys were goofing around on your way down the hill. What might I be accusing you of doing? It's not like you like Isaac or anything, do you?"

Mia's pink cheeks deepened in colour until they were a distinct crimson against her pale skin. Luckily for her, Garet was a bit too intoxicated at that point to really take much notice of her expression.

"N-No, of course not! He and I are very close, that's all. We're just…very good friends. But I'm good friends with all of you, so Isaac is no different!"

"Hmm, too bad," Garet mused, downing his umpteenth mug of ale, only for it to be near-instantaneously replenished. "If you did, maybe there'd be some kind of odd chance that he might go for you instead of Jenna. That would be pretty convenient for me."

"H-However ideal it might be, it's just not that plausible. Hypothetically speaking, if I did like Isaac, there's no guarantee that that would have any effect on his feelings for Jenna. I doubt that my feelings would be able to top hers, if it came down to it."

Slowly turning to face Mia, then to Isaac and Jenna, and then back to Mia, Garet sighed and drank deeply from his ale. Clunking it back onto the table, he sighed and closed his eyes as he realized that Mia's words were painfully truthful.

"Yeah," he said, resting his chin against his palm, "I guess a situation like that…is nothing more than wishful thinking…"

* * *

Angst. Didn't really expect to write Garet in an angsty way, but the situation called for it, especially since he hides his true feelings in front of Jenna and Isaac. Man, though, it's been quite some time since I've written angst and I feel like I'm a bit rusty at it. Too much blatant telling of how he's feeling as opposed to describing his emotions and whatnot. Hopefully it won't take too long to get back into the swing of things, but of course the angst won't last for too long, as my WiH readers already know.

Oddly enough, I'm most looking forward to writing the little 'present day' segments between Tyrell and Ivan for this story. Now, it's possible I'm only feeling that way right now because these first few chapters are…I don't want to call them rehashes from Garet's perspective but they sort of will be up until the first big plot point. I'm hoping that once the individual storylines for Garet from this story and Isaac in WiH split that my inspiration will kick into high gear and I'll be able to start getting creative with the story. Then again, I might just be treating myself too harshly right now…

Anyway, thanks for reading and **please review!** Can't improve until I get feedback!

_-GengaJupite_


	3. Departure

I need to get back into the writing mood again… I don't have writer's block or anything, but lately I just haven't felt like writing at all. It would be great if my stories could just write themselves…or I could write just by thinking… Oh well, I suppose this is what I signed up for.

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter one

* * *

_Departure_

"_Morning, Tyrell," Ivan greeted the redhead as he entered the dining room. "You're up early; sleep well?"_

"_Yeah," Tyrell yawned and sat down across from the older man. "We've been waking up early ever since we left to get the Roc's feather, so I'm kind of used to it by now."_

"_Heh, maybe you should tell that to my daughter," Ivan chuckled, taking a sip from his coffee. "She probably won't be up until noon, so it looks like you've got some time to kill. How are you finding Garet's book?"_

_Tyrell twisted his face as he tried to find the best way to word his thoughts on his father's autobiography. "Well…to be honest, it's kind of weird… It's hard to imagine a grassy village like New Vale so close to Mt. Aleph, and it's almost…uncomfortable reading about my dad's feelings for Matthew's mom."_

_Ivan let out a breathy chuckle and sipped his coffee again. "I can only imagine how hard picturing some of those things must be, considering the way they turned out in the end. In any case, try not to feel too uncomfortable delving into Garet's personal thoughts; after all, he left the book for _you_ to read. His inner feelings will only get heavier from this point forward, but there is a reason for all of it."_

"_If you say so…"_

"_Just take it slowly. You three aren't in a rush to go anywhere now, so you can pace yourself with that book. If you've got nothing else to do, you might as well read some more until Karis is up."_

_With that, Ivan stood and left the table, leaving Tyrell in total silence to choose how he would kill the time._

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"Ugh, come on, you idiot, get up!"

Groaning, Garet squinted through one of his eyes, cringing as the sunlight streamed right onto his face. Tightly shutting his eyes again, he curled up in a ball and tried to block out his siblings' shouts.

"Garet! You're gonna be late!" Aaron taunted, poking his older brother's face at a rapid-fire speed.

"Don't care; I'm tired," Garet mumbled stubbornly through the sheets.

"You don't care?!" Kay growled, angrily grabbing his blanket and tearing it away from him. "Garet, they're _your_ friends, aren't they?! If anything, you should be down there right now ready to say goodbye! Did you even remember that they were all leaving today?"

Annoyed, the nineteen-year-old scowled at his smirking brother and glaring sister as they looked down at him from above. Sighing, he slowly shuffled to the edge of the bed and began to sit up. Of course he knew that some of his best friends were leaving today, which was exactly why he _didn't _want to get up. It wasn't as though he thought that they would stay if he didn't bid them farewell, but actually having to say goodbye to the people he had spent the past few years with was more than a little heartbreaking. Ivan, Sheba, Piers, Mia: they were irreplaceable; it was hard to imagine what life would be like without them, even though he'd spent most of his life not knowing whom they were.

Standing up, he groggily looked at his siblings and pointed to the door. "I need to change; get out."

Rolling her eyes at him, Kay whirled around and swiftly marched out, pulling Aaron along by the collar of his shirt. Once the door was shut behind them, Garet immediately relaxed and collapsed back on the bed. He couldn't go back to sleep at this point, but at least Kay wouldn't be barking out orders at him.

After getting changed and being forced to wolf down his breakfast, Garet found himself unenthusiastically striding down to the base of the village with his family. Looking around, he could see a few other villagers also making their way down as well. No one wanted to see the Jupiter and Mercury saviours – now known as the Knights of Luna – depart from the village they had spent much of their time rebuilding, but it was the inevitable outcome of seeing New Vale completed. It was selfish to ask them to stay longer, as they had already postponed their respective returns home for two years.

Coming to the base of the village, the townspeople allowed him and his family to step toward the front of the crowd where Isaac and Jenna's families were located. Now that he could actually see Ivan, Sheba, Piers, and Mia standing beneath the arch with their belongings, his heart sank even further, and it took all his strength just to keep his head up.

Hardly even listening as Jenna tearfully asked if they had to leave already, Garet grumbled to himself and kicked a few pebbles into the nearby creek. Why did they all have to live so far away? The Valeans would be lucky if they got to see Ivan from time to time, but it was unlikely that the other three would have the time to travel all the way here any more than once every few years. Could things get worse at this point?

"Felix, are you coming?" asked Sheba. Jenna, Garet, and Isaac looked up in surprise at the twenty-year old brother of Jenna. Felix gave them a sheepish look of guilt, realizing that he had forgotten to tell them.

"I…uh…guess I never told you guys…" he began, scratching at the stubble on his chin, "I'm taking Sheba back to Lalivero myself. I thought it would make sense since she's got the longest journey ahead of her. I should probably make amends with Faran…you know…with the whole kidnapping and all…"

Cursing under his breath, Garet turned away as Felix hugged Jenna and joined the others beneath the arch. Sure, Felix would only be gone for a few months, but with him gone as well, this whole town would just seem empty. At this point, it wouldn't surprise the Mars adept if Isaac and Jenna also stated that they would be leaving, though he knew that neither would look so depressed right now if that were the case.

As a silence ensued, the sound of Isaac's father clearing his throat caught everyone's attention, and they all turned to him as he spoke.

"Well, I suppose now would be the time to say your goodbyes," said Kyle, realizing that they needed a little push to continue.

"Yes," added Dora, placing her hand on Isaac's shoulder, "the longer you let this go on, the harder it will be to say what you need to."

Feeling hands on his own shoulders, Garet turned his head to see his parents giving him reassuring smiles. "Go on, son. Saying goodbye is a part of life. You'll see them all again someday, so don't act like this is the end."

With a light shove, Garet stumbled forward a couple of steps and ended up right in front of Mia. Unsure of he should do, he stared blankly at the healer as she smiled sorrowfully.

"It's funny," Mia spoke gently, filling the silence between them, "when we first met, I was a little scared of you, but once we started talking, you turned out to be a big teddy bear."

Blushing and smirking awkwardly, Garet chuckled and scratched his head. "Hehe, uh, gee, I don't think I would call myself a teddy bear, but whatever works for you, I guess."

Giggling a bit, Mia wrapped her arms around his torso. Stunned only for a moment, given that Mia was typically a bit gentler with her actions, he returned the embrace and smiled.

"Good luck with Jenna," Mia whispered to him, loosening her hold as he tensed up. "Even if things don't change with her, I'm sure you'll find someone nice soon. Don't give up."

With his face feeling like it was on fire, Garet shakily released her from his arms and tried to smile naturally. Realizing that he was probably making himself look like a fool, he gave a little nod to the healer and traded places with Jenna, who had just finished saying her goodbyes to Piers.

"It has been quite an adventure," Piers said, grasping Garet's right elbow with his right hand and placing his left on the flame user's shoulder.

"Sure has," Garet said solemnly as he returned the Lemurian's friendship gesture. "I feel bad that we never really had much of a chance to talk, Piers. We were always busy with our own tasks; I guess the muscles had to get spread out during reconstruction."

Laughing, the Lemurian patted Garet's shoulder firmly. "That's very true, but if there is one thing I have learned about you, Garet, it is that you always say just the right things to bring about laughter. I'll sorely miss your humour while I sail the seas, and eagerly look forward to when we will meet again."

Flashing Piers a toothy grin, the two men shook their arms once and separated from their hold. Continuing to move down the line of adepts, Garet went over to Sheba, as Felix was discussing something with his parents. Trying not to laugh as their youngest companion craned her neck upwards at him, the Mars adept smiled down at her.

"I am not that short; you're just tall!" she harrumphed before he could even say anything, puffing up her cheeks and placing her hands on her hips.

"Read my mind, did you?" he chuckled back.

"I didn't have to," she responded, her forced frown giving way to a smirk. "You're just way too easy to read, Garet. I'm surprised Jenna hasn't found out–"

"Oh, I'm going to miss you too, Sheba! So, so, sooo much!" Garet exaggerated, quickly pulling her into a tight embrace to cut off her sentence. "Whatever will I do with– Ow!"

Yelping and releasing her, he saw her giggle as a couple of small sparks passed along her fingertips. "Heehee, yes, I'll miss you so much, Garet. Where else will I find such a good victim for messing around with?"

He scrunched his face at the younger girl, but she just stuck her tongue out at him. Giggling a bit, he felt his heart sink as her eyes began to shimmer and she softened her expression. "It's so weird that we'll be separating now, after all this time. You all were…were like the family I wish I'd had. I-I won't f-forget you, so p-promise you won't forget me, okay?"

"Sheba," Garet mumbled, pulling her into a genuine embrace this time. "I can't go forgetting my mischievous little sister, now, can I? Don't even think for a moment that any of us will forget about you or each other. You'll see; we'll be back together before you know it."

Giving him a light squeeze and separating, Sheba wiped her eyes and smiled at him. Nodding to each other, Garet switched with Jenna again, who had been saying goodbye to Ivan. Turning to the male Jupiter adept, both of them looked at each other, uncertain of how to begin saying goodbye.

Unlike the others, Ivan had joined up with Isaac and Garet almost the day after they had first met. While their companionship began oddly, the then-fifteen-year-old had quickly become fast friends with the Valeans. By the time they had reached Imil and met Mia, the three boys were already like a band of brothers, and it was difficult for Garet to think of parting with someone he considered his brother. True, he already had a biological brother and sister, but the people he had met on this journey felt more like family than his actual family did now.

"Gosh, you'll make me blush," Ivan chuckled, bringing Garet back to reality.

"Heh, you and Sheba have no sense of privacy at all," Garet shook his head and chuckled breathily.

Ivan glanced over to where Sheba and Jenna were currently crying and hugging before turning back to Garet. "We had a lot of fun, though," Ivan said, the mischievous smirk disappearing from his face. "I…I can't even imagine what I'd be doing right now if you and Isaac hadn't helped me catch those bandits. It seems so long ago…but it's a memory I'll never forget, no matter how insignificant it might be."

Grasping Ivan's hand in a firm handshake, the Mars adept grinned widely at his younger companion. "Insignificant? Ivan, I'm almost positive that Isaac and I would have gotten ourselves killed if we hadn't met you. I mean, even if we were strong enough to handle monsters without you, we probably would have ended up killing each other over our disagreements. You're a bro now, so don't act like our friendship was insignificant."

"Y-Yeah, you're right," the wind user responded, gripping Garet's hand in return before the two of them pulled together into a manly embrace.

"Anyway, you'll be around Kalay for a while, so we should be able to see you whenever you come here to trade your goods, right?"

"Yeah, I'll try to head over as much as I can before heading off to Contigo. Actually, I'm surprised you remembered me telling you I'd be in Kalay for a while. Isaac thought I'd be going straight back to Contigo to ask Hama some questions."

Pulling away from each other, Garet grinned and placed his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner. "My memory is good when I want it to be. Make sure you bring me some free stuff when you're here!"

"Hah, is that all I'm good for?" Ivan laughed.

"Why else would I wanna see your ugly mug?" Garet laughed as well, fist-bumping the Jupiter adept and turning to see if everyone had finished saying their goodbyes.

The sight he was met with was a bit unexpected.

At the end of the row, Mia held Isaac's hands in her own as a blue glow flowed out of her fingertips. As she reopened her eyes, the two of them hugged, mumbling things to each other that the Mars adept could not hear from this distance. While it only seemed natural that they would hug before Mia left, Garet was a bit shocked to see a tear roll down Isaac's cheek.

Over the course of their journey, Garet and Ivan had constantly teased Isaac and Mia about how lovey they looked together. It was clear to see that, out of the three guys, Mia had gotten closest to Isaac during their travels. They had become extremely close, but Garet was aware that Isaac's feelings were of Jenna the entire time, and it was likely that Ivan knew that as well. In this current situation, however, the leader and healer of their original group being a couple seemed a little more than plausible, especially from the way their embrace seemed to continue.

What troubled him more was not the extended goodbye between those two, but the sour look that Jenna was sending their way. Jenna's relationship to Piers seemed nothing like how Isaac's and Mia's had been when all eight adepts had first come together. Once they had begun travelling together, and all the way up until this point, she had never really shown any signs that Mia made her feel jealous, and the two girls always seemed to get along just fine. Right now, though, Garet had to admit that he didn't envy Isaac's position. Even though he knew that hug was platonic, the redhead knew that his best friend would have some explaining to do to his girlfriend after this.

Watching as the two of them parted from their lengthy embrace, the three Valeans that would be staying in the village stepped backwards from their five companions. With all of their goodbyes finished, they could only watch as their friends slowly picked up their belongings and waved to the villagers. Turning around and stepping under the archway, Garet, Jenna, and Isaac stared longingly as their friends' figures grew smaller and smaller. Slowly, the townsfolk began leaving until only the three of them remained, staring out the archway until the five figures disappeared from sight.

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In what seemed like mere moments, an entire string of events had transpired after Ivan, Sheba, Felix, Piers, and Mia had left New Vale. Before he even realized it, Garet found himself standing in front of Jenna's front door with his hand up to knock. How had this even happened? Of course, he knew exactly how it had happened, but it still seemed ridiculous that he was now the one trying to apologize for Isaac.

"Isaac, you really owe me big time for this," he mumbled to himself.

Not even a full ten minutes ago, Jenna suddenly ran off from where the three childhood friends had been standing. Confused about what happened, Isaac had given chase, but apparently couldn't catch her. Knowing that they might need a mediator, Garet reluctantly dragged himself up in the direction they'd run off, only to find Isaac sitting outside her house with a disgruntled look on his face.

"I said go away, Isaac!" Jenna's voice shouted from inside the house as Garet rapped his knuckles on the door.

"Um, it's me, Jen," he called back to her. "Isaac left… Can I come in?"

No response. After a minute or so, he heard footsteps from inside, and the lock clicked before Jenna cracked the door open to peek through. When it seemed that she'd verified that Isaac had, indeed, left the premises, she opened it a bit more so that Garet could come in. Quietly stepping through the doorway, Jenna shut it behind him and locked it before shuffling over toward a sofa and collapsing on it, shoving her face into a cushion.

"Is…is everything all right, Jenna?" Garet asked slowly, even though he knew the answer already.

"No," she grumbled without looking up. "Did Isaac send you in here?"

"Uh…sort of, but not really," Garet answered, stepping over to where she was and taking a seat on the seat perpendicular to her. "I played dumb and pretended I didn't know why you were upset, but I told him I could talk to you since you wouldn't let him in."

Jenna didn't say anything, causing Garet to sigh and try to get as comfortable as he could before starting what might become a stressful conversation. "You know that there's nothing between him and Mia, right?" Again, Jenna chose not to respond, so Garet continued. "Maybe you just never noticed how close they were, so I'm guessing that that…long goodbye they had was a bit surprising. I don't blame you for getting upset, but you should know it was strictly platonic."

Removing the cushion from her face to leer at Garet, Jenna apparently found his explanation unsatisfying. "Why are you taking his side over mine? I know you aren't my boyfriend, but you're smart enough to see who's in the wrong here, right?"

Garet blushed at her choice of words and turned away from her to avoid any accusations from the agitated brunette in front of him. "W-Well, I don't think that either of you is really right or wrong. True, he could've made his goodbye less sentimental, but I know for a fact that he wasn't thinking of it in…_that_ way. It's reasonable that you'd feel jealous, but–"

"I am _not_ jealous!" she growled, tossing a cushion over at him and shoving another one into her face.

"Okay, okay, not jealous, just angry," Garet apologized and gently put the cushion down on his lap. "Look, the point is that it was just a farewell hug that lasted a bit too long. If he wasn't worried about you, he wouldn't have chased after you when you ran off, right?"

Jenna mumbled something incomprehensible into the pillow, but Garet thought he caught a muffled "I suppose" somewhere amidst the murmurs.

"You don't have to go talk to him right away or anything like that," Garet added. "I'll just tell him that you don't want to talk about it, okay?"

With only a small nod in his direction, Jenna said nothing else, and Garet took it as his cue to leave. He had no idea that it would take two months for Jenna to finally forgive Isaac for what happened, but after that long period of time, they were able to reconcile and go back to being a couple.

And he could only say that he was happy for them…sort of.

* * *

Ah, not sure what it was, but I liked writing this chapter more than the previous one. Perhaps it had to do with writing emotions and interactions as opposed to angst. Oh well, it doesn't matter. On a different note, I didn't realize how much work it would be to constantly look over WiH's concurrent chapter to make sure everything was lining up. I doubt anyone is going to be nitpicking me over my own story, but you never know.

Hopefully Garet isn't coming off as OOC. I realize that I've made him less goofy than most people tend to write him, but I figured that this angsty version of himself would work best for right now, though I didn't plan to make him quite as…smart(?) as he's coming across (at least to me). In any case, he should be more in-character once the good things start happening, but that won't be for some amount of time… In fact, in terms of how long it'll take before there aren't _any_ bad things plaguing him, it'll be in about three years… :P. Still, there's some good stuff coming up sooner than that, so look forward to it!

Oh, I doubt anyone's wondering (or even noticed) but the chapter names will be the same for each coinciding WiH and BF chapter (unless it was something specific to Isaac's story that doesn't make sense with Garet's). Call it laziness or what have you, but I like to see it as artistic branching and converging ;P

Thanks to **jaimemrubio1994 **and **Aditx8e** for reviewing! Glad to see some returning fans checking this out! :)

Thanks for reading and please review!

–_GengaJupite_


	4. Confused Emotions

I hate being sick… Right before finals week too, but there's not a lot I can do about that. It seems that whenever finals roll around I'm always that one person who sniffles throughout the entire thing. Kinda sucks, but at least I'll be done soon. I've been ready for this term to end since it started in January.

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter one

* * *

_Confused Emotions_

"Sounds like you guys made up," Garet said as he and Jenna walked through the village.

"Mhm," she answered shortly, a small smile gracing her lips. "I…realized that I had sort of overreacted to the whole situation."

Garet shrugged. "Only because it lasted for two months. Otherwise, I think you had a reason to be at least a bit upset with him."

She nodded and the two Mars adepts continued walking in peaceful silence. On this particular day, Garet had not planned on meeting up with Jenna, not that he was opposed to doing so. He had been running an errand for his grandfather when he bumped into her down at the small marketplace. Since neither of them had to go anywhere right away, they decided to hang out for a bit.

While this certainly wasn't the first time that Garet had spent time alone with Jenna, he felt unsure of himself this today. He did not plan on doing anything that he would regret, but somehow he always ended up asking about her and Isaac's relationship. Of course, he had no advice if she ever asked about anything, so hearing about how they were getting along only served to cause him pain.

"You should find yourself a girlfriend, Garet."

Stopping in his tracks, Garet stared at Jenna as she stopped a few steps ahead of him and looked back at him in confusion. She had clearly said that only to continue their conversation, but the words stung more painfully than he expected them to. There was no way she knew that he had feelings for her, and even if she did, Jenna would not be so cruel as to steer him away from her in such a manner.

"Garet? Are you okay?" she asked after their brief moment of silence.

"H-Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry, I just remembered something stupid is all," he lied, scratching the back of his neck and catching up to her. "Anyway, a girlfriend? Where did that come from?"

"Well," she began slowly, tapping her chin as they continued walking, "you always ask how things are going with Isaac, which is nice, but I'd honestly like to hear how things are going in your love life."

Garet chuckled shakily and held his hands up in front of his chest. "Heh, whoa, now, let's not be too hasty. I don't even have a love life, so asking me to get a girlfriend seems like a bit much, don't you think?"

Taking a seat on a grassy hillside, Jenna pondered for a moment, humming as she looked upwards. "Mm, I think you're just pretending not to want a girlfriend. Besides, there are plenty of good-looking girls in New Vale, and you're a pretty good catch. Funny, tall, muscular, and your looks are…well, they aren't _bad_."

"Gee, thanks," he said with a smirk as he sat down beside her.

Jenna giggled and hugged her knees to her chest. "In all seriousness, though, I think that a lot of girls in this village alone would be happy to be your girlfriend."

"Hmm," Garet mused, laying back and staring up at the sky. "Well, even if that were true… I already…have someone that I…that I like…"

"What?!" the brunette cried, practically jumping on top of the redhead and pinning him down. "Who is she?! What's she like?! You sneaky bastard, hiding this from me!"

Jenna seemed ignorant to Garet's furiously blushing cheeks, caring only about this mystery girl that he had feelings for. Garet could feel beads of sweat begin to form on his forehead as Jenna's hands placed more and more weight onto his chest. For anyone who happened to look, it might almost look as if they were doing something indecent in public!

"I-If you g-get off of me, then I'll tell you about her," he said shakily, too afraid to try pushing her off himself.

Taking a moment to notice the position they were in, Jenna chuckled sheepishly and got off of him. Slowly sitting up, Garet took a few breaths to help calm himself down from Jenna's sudden attack and tried his best to avoid looking directly at her.

"I won't say who she is," he started, "but I don't mind telling you what she's like."

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine, now get on with it!" she egged him on enthusiastically.

Sighing, Garet rested his chin on his palm and did his best to explain the girl sitting beside him without letting her know that she was the one he was talking about.

"Let's see… We bicker all the time, but it's obvious that we both really have fun messing with each other. Sometimes she's a little outspoken and temperamental, but I like that she can say what's on her mind…well, most of the time anyway, but no one says what they're thinking all the time. She's enthusiastic and upbeat, but knows when it's time to be serious."

"Garet."

"Yeah?"

"She sounds sweet and all, but I know you're just dying to tell me about her looks."

"Heh, not all guys are pigs, y'know."

"Heehee, but I know you well enough to know that you're too shallow to go for a less-than-decent-looking girl."

He didn't like to think of himself as being that shallow, but Garet shrugged, knowing that physical attraction was natural of both sexes and all orientations. He'd be lying if he said that he would want to date a girl who _only_ had a great personality.

"She's pretty hot," he said nonchalantly, knowing that a vague description would keep Jenna in the dark. "Nice body, long hair, cute face, pretty eyes."

"You just described half the girls in the village, no, in all of Weyard!"

"I'm not good with words."

"Rrgh, you…"

Both Mars adepts stared each other down for about a minute before breaking out into laughter. Garet had no intention of going any more in-depth with his descriptions, and Jenna knew that she wouldn't be able to convince to do so. Rather than bickering about it, the two of them simply allowed their laughter to fill what could have been tension and collapsed onto the grass. As their giggles died down, they took a few deep breaths as they gazed up at the puffy clouds.

"Well, I don't know who she is from that description," Jenna snickered, lightly elbowing her companion in the side, "but it sounds like you two would get along well enough. You should try asking her out."

Garet scrunched up his face, thankful that Jenna could not see him from the angles that they were lying at. "I would but there are some…complicated things that make it so I can't. I'd rather not go into it."

"Why, does she have a boyfriend or something?"

"That's…part of it."

"Darn, oh well, don't give up on her, whoever she is."

Garet could practically hear Sheba's voice echoing around in his head. _"Oh my gods, Jenna, did you fry your brain or something?! It's you! He likes you!"_

"If you're lucky, she and her boyfriend might just break up, too," Jenna added offhandedly.

"That would be awful," Garet said without thinking.

"Huh? Awful? But wouldn't that be your big chance?" Jenna asked, rolling onto her stomach so she could face him.

Momentarily glancing at her, Garet averted his gaze and focused on anything that wasn't the brunette staring at him with her cinnamon eyes. "It's just…I…could never take advantage of a situation like that… She seems really happy with her boyfriend, too. He's not a bad dude or anything, so I would feel like an asshole if I tried to do something like that right after they broke up."

Jenna didn't respond right away, so Garet looked down, only to regret doing so when he saw her expression. Her eyes were wide, and her lips were parted just enough to indicate that she was going to say something, but no words left her mouth. Perhaps he had said too much. Was it possible that she caught on to whom he was referring to because of that? He wanted to convince himself that he had been discreet enough, but just seeing Jenna's face was enough to send him into a minor panic.

"I…I'm sorry, Garet," she finally managed to squeak out.

"Hmm?" he responded, lifting his head to look at her again. "Why are you apologizing?"

She chewed her lip for a moment before answering him. "It's just…I said something really insensitive and didn't even stop to think why it might be… Obviously if you really like this girl, then you wouldn't want to take advantage of her being upset and heartbroken."

"Y-Yeah," he said shakily. "B-But it's not really something you should feel bad about. You were just trying to give me confidence or something, right?"

"I guess," she answered quietly. "And to think I got mad at Isaac for being insensitive… I feel like such a hypocrite."

"Jen…you don't need to be so hard on yourself. If nothing else, my opinion of you won't change, no matter what you say."

Jenna said nothing in response but continued to stare at Garet. Feeling embarrassed by her lingering gaze, he turned his own face away and looked up at the clouds. If this went on any longer, he wasn't completely sure that he could keep hiding the he liked her. Knowing Jenna, she probably wouldn't care; hell, for all he knew she already knew! It wasn't a secret to Isaac, though admittedly that had been a part of the boys' friendly rivalry over the years.

"Whatever happens," Jenna said suddenly after a while, "I'm sure you'll be happy."

Responding almost mechanically and keeping his gaze fixed upwards, Garet sighed. "I hope so."

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Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Things seemed to have reached a standstill, and Garet could only say that he was bored of it. Perhaps he had grown too accustomed to constantly doing things over the past few years, but even before they had first set out from Vale there always seemed to be things to do.

"Garet, play with me!" Aaron whined, lightly punching his older brother.

"Do I have to?" Garet grumbled, dropping a pebble in the river beside their house. "Where are all your friends?"

"They're busy," the smaller redhead explained, ceasing his weak attack. "You're not doing anything, anyway, and Kay will get mad at you if you don't!"

"That's because Kay's a naggy old lady," Garet chuckled, tousling Aaron's hair. "I'll play with you if you can use your psynergy to lift that rock across the river."

Aaron glanced across the water, spotting the large rock before turning back to Garet. "No fair, even you can't lift that!"

"I can if I have the Lift Gem."

"That's cheating!"

"I could set it on fire."

"Rocks don't catch on fire, dummy."

In that instant, the big rock suddenly burst into flames, causing both boys to jump in surprise at its spontaneous combustion. Hearing someone giggle from behind them, they both whirled around to see Jenna with her right hand glowing red in front of her. As the glow disappeared from her outstretched fingers, so, too, did the flames enveloping the rock, leaving only a few scorch marks around the rougher edges.

"Whoa, that was cool!" Aaron exclaimed, jumping around in his enthusiasm.

"Tch, I could've done that, too," Garet sniffed. "You trying to show me up in front of my brother?"

"Heehee, it's not much of a challenge," Jenna laughed and patted the hyperactive eight-year-old on the head. "I've always been better than you."

"Haha, Garet's a loser!" Aaron laughed.

"Why, you–"

Before Garet could finish his sentence, his brother had already taken off laughing, little candle-sized flames hovering around his head. Instead of giving chase, Garet simply shook his head and continued to laze about in boredom.

"So," he said as Jenna stepped towards him, "how come you aren't with Isaac?"

"Ugh, do I have to spend every moment of my life with him?" she asked rhetorically.

"No," Garet answered anyway, "but it just seems like you guys haven't been spending as much time together lately. D'you get in a fight or something?"

Jenna shook her head. "It's nothing like that. I dunno, maybe I just don't feel like there's much of a spark anymore."

Garet did his best to mask how he was feeling, though his expression changed quite a bit. "Heh, trouble in paradise. Well, you guys always seem to make it through difficult things. I can't imagine you breaking up, and even if that somehow happened, I think my shoulder's a bit too tall for you to cry on."

Expecting her to make some sort of retort, Garet was surprised when Jenna didn't answer. Slightly concerned that he had made her feel uncomfortable by bringing up the idea of breaking up, he prepared himself for some sort of backlash. However, she made no indication that she would retaliate; in fact, she wasn't even looking at him. After a few awkward moments of nothing, he opened his mouth to say something, only to be cut off.

"I doubt anything'll happen, but I know I won't come to you if it does," she said jokingly, turning her head down to stick her tongue out at him.

With that, Garet watched as the cinnamon-haired girl turned around and left the way she came. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have thought much of her leaving on such an abrupt note, but there was something about it that made him feel confused.

Her expression.

Sure, the pause between what he'd said and her response was questionable, but it was the way Jenna had looked at him that sent a wave of mixed emotions through Garet's head. Trying to mask it by sticking out her tongue didn't seem to have worked out as well as she'd hoped, as even he was able to catch on. Garet knew he wasn't the brightest person around, so for him to be able to notice the subtle way her lips curled downward as she retracted her tongue, or the way that her eyes wavered as if she couldn't look at him straight made it all the more suspicious. Were she and Isaac really experiencing such problems?

"Hey, Garet!"

Turning toward the source of the voice, Garet spotted Isaac waving to him as he closed the distance between them. If the topic of their relationship came up, Garet decided that he wouldn't try to sway things any which way. As their close friend, he was obligated to help them get through their rough patches, but he also couldn't ignore his own feelings, the selfish feelings that secretly hoped he might have a shot with Jenna. Because of that he could only be a mediator, one that would leave all the decisions up to them.

"Yo, Isaac," the redhead greeted as his best friend sat down beside him. "What's up?"

The blond shrugged. "Same as usual. I've been thinking that I should get a job… As much as I like doing whatever I feel like all the time, there's only so much to do around here."

"That'd probably be a good idea," Garet mused, wondering why he hadn't thought of getting a job. "I guess with all the money we had left over from the adventure, I never really considered that."

"It's not to earn a lot of money; it's so that we don't become a bunch of lazy do-nothings."

Garet grinned. More than anyone else, he knew that Isaac wasn't the type to sit around doing nothing. It was actually rather surprising that the Venus adept had lasted this long without trekking off on some mini adventure or getting a job sooner. As for himself, well, he was content with being bored for a little while longer. Garet would rather do whatever he wanted while he still could before spending the rest of his days working, even if he wasn't doing anything with his spare time.

"By the way," Isaac added, "you haven't seen Jenna around, have you?"

"Ah, she was here a little earlier," Garet explained, scratching the side of his head. "Dunno where she went, though, so I can't help you there."

"Damn."

A brief silence ensued as Garet pondered over whether he should ask about their current rough patch. Really, it wasn't any business of his to go delving into other people's relationships, but he wanted to know what was going on with his two best friends. Without any advice to give, however, it might seem as if he were prying or being nosy. The last thing he wanted to do was create some sort of rift between all three of them.

After balancing the pros and cons, Garet decided to approach the subject cautiously, as his curiosity was simply too overwhelming to ignore.

"Is…everything all good between you two?"

Isaac glanced at Garet before sighing. "It's kind of confusing to explain. I mean, we haven't gotten in a fight or anything, but she just feels really…distant lately. I don't expect to spend every moment with her, but it seems like she never wants to hang out more than once every four or five days. Did she seem different when you saw her?"

Garet paused, deciding how to continue with this. While she certainly had seemed to be acting a little strange earlier, he couldn't be sure that it had anything to do with the situation with Isaac. For all he knew, there was no situation, and Jenna just wanted a bit of space to see if she could reignite that spark. 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' and all that.

"Dunno, man," Garet answered with a shrug. "She didn't really stick around for very long, and we didn't really talk about anything specific. I'd give you advice, but I don't really get girls. If you try asking what's wrong all the time, she might think you're being clingy, but if you don't ask at all, then she'll think you don't care."

Isaac sighed, and fell back with a thud. Pinching at the bridge of his nose, the blond grumbled, "Don't be in a rush to get a girlfriend, Garet. You'd think it'd be great, but you'll end up stressing more than you could imagine."

"Heh, sure that isn't just you, buddy?"

"Well, even if it is, you'd probably find someone like Jenna, too, seeing as she's your type and all."

Garet blushed, thankful that Isaac had his eyes shut at the moment. "Geez, you don't have to be so blunt about it, man. What if people hear you?"

Isaac chuckled dryly and glanced at his embarrassed friend. "You think it would come as a surprise to anyone? I'm pretty sure the only person that doesn't know you like Jenna is Jenna. Everyone's an expert until it involves themselves; ironic, eh?"

"…You sound like Ivan," Garet grumbled, ripping a handful of grass out of the ground and tossing it at Isaac's face. "Besides, I'm not looking for a girlfriend right now, so you should worry about your own problems."

"Hey, if it'll take the stress away for a bit, I'll loan you Jenna for a few days."

"Man, I have no idea how you can talk about your own girlfriend like that," Garet said, though a dry chuckle escaped his lips. "You know she'd kill you if she ever heard you say something like that."

Also chuckling, Isaac held up his hands in jest. "I'm kidding. I guess for now I'll just ask her about it on those rare days when we hang out."

"You do that, Isaac."

From there, Isaac and Garet's conversation branched off in whatever direction the topics took them. Thinking little of Isaac and Jenna's rough patch, the two nineteen-year-olds had no idea that this would ultimately decide where their futures would take them.

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As another month went by, Garet realized that Isaac had yet to make amends with Jenna. Perhaps 'make amends' was the wrong term, but he wasn't sure what else to call it, as they weren't fighting but they also weren't really getting along. In a typical situation, he would not have even bothered worrying about what was going on in their relationship, but he found that the more those two drifted apart, the more he was slowly becoming more invested, though it wasn't necessarily by his own will.

"Hi, Kay, can I come in?" Jenna's voice sounded from the door. "I brought muffins."

"Of course, we're always happy to have you over," Kay greeted politely as she let Jenna inside.

"Muffins!" Aaron and Garet shouted, diving for the basket in Jenna's hands. Sharp as ever, she managed to lift it just before they grabbed it and watched as they collapsed on top of each other.

"I hope you'll excuse my pig brothers," Kay sighed as she helped Aaron to his feet.

"Heehee, it's okay, Aaron's still a cute kid, so he can get away with it," Jenna laughed and handed a muffin to him. "As for this one…"

Garet grumbled as he pulled himself up. "Y'know, you could at least _pretend_ to be nice to me."

"When you stop acting like an eight-year-old, then we will!" Jenna and Kay said simultaneously, though Kay seemed to be scolding him as opposed to Jenna's teasing.

Following Jenna to the table, he grabbed a muffin from the basket and sat down, pulling the seat beside him out so she could sit there. "So, any special reason you stopped by?"

"Not really," Jenna said as she took her seat. "I baked a bunch of muffins and realized that I had exactly enough for your family, so I decided to bring them up."

"Ou di'nt brng any to 'saac?" he asked through a full mouth.

"No, only because his mom's better at baking than I am," Jenna said shortly before quickly changing the topic. "Speaking of baking, I'm probably going to start working down at the bakery soon. I was starting to get bored with all my spare time, so I figured a job would be good."

"You should try getting that through his head."

Garet jumped slightly to see Kay doing something in the kitchen across the room. "What the… You're still here?"

"What's that supposed to mean? It's my house too!"

"Go make some friends, Kay!"

"Ugh, you're such a jerk, you know that!"

They watched as Kay stormed up the stairs and heard her slam the door. Garet felt Jenna whack the back of his head and he quickly turned to see her half smirking half frowning…if that were even possible.

"Garet, you shouldn't be so mean to her," Jenna scolded. "She's not wrong, after all."

"Hey, what I do with my time is up to me," he argued and took another bite of his pastry. "Besides, she doesn't work either, so she has no right to tell me I should."

"I thought she wasn't working because you handed your prospective mayoral duties to her…"

Garet slowly chewed on the food in his mouth, apparently having forgotten that he had made her take on all his tasks even though he was going to become the mayor after his grandfather got too old. His argument was that he would make Kay his secretary, but he had yet to even attempt learning what it meant to be a mayor from his grandfather.

"You're really hopeless, you know that," Jenna giggled.

Garet blushed, unable to hide the fact that he found her antics to be cute. At this point, he wondered if it was possible that Jenna still remained ignorant of his feelings. He was not unhappy that she had not caught on, but it almost seemed hypocritical of her to always be calling him clueless and the like, though he could never say that to her without giving a proper explanation as to why.

Swallowing the last bite of his muffin and clapping the crumbs off his hands, Garet cleared his throat. "So, are things with Isaac getting any better? Figure I should ask since you're here."

Jenna's smile disappeared, leaving Garet with a feeling of guilt. It should have seemed obvious that things weren't getting better, considering the brunette was now spending more time with him rather than her boyfriend. While he enjoyed the extra attention he was getting from her, he disliked that it was at the expense of his best friend, the one she was supposed to be in a relationship with. Of course, he wasn't going to kick her out and make her talk things out with Isaac, but Garet felt as though he was now partly to blame for why their relationship wasn't getting better.

"They're moving along," she answered vaguely, giving no indication that things had changed in the slightest. "At the very least, they aren't getting worse."

"That's…a start…" Garet spoke slowly, though they were both fully aware that it wasn't much of a start either.

"Do you think he would be mad if I told him I wanted to take a break?"

"Mad? Hmm…I doubt he'd be mad; more likely he'd be upset," Garet reasoned, leaning his elbow on the table. "I mean, how often do people usually get together after a break? It seems like taking a break would just be giving him hope until an eventual breakup."

"But I don't know that I would break up with him for sure," Jenna argued, combing her fingers through her ponytail. "It's not that I don't still care about him – I do still love him a lot – but I think that I only love him the same amount that I love, say, you right now…"

Both Mars adepts stared at each other for a moment before quickly turning away, their faces as hot as the very element they controlled. Garet had no idea why Jenna would blush so heavily, but it didn't really matter all that much. He was more concerned with her choice of words, even if she had only meant that her feelings for Isaac had reduced back to that of friendship.

"Garet and Jenna sittin' in a tree!" Aaron chanted as he ran into the room.

Shooting up from his chair, Garet tried his best to use this as a way to get out of the current awkward situation.

"Y-You little twerp!" he shouted as he chased after Aaron. "Get out of here or I'll burn all your hair off!"

The young Mars adept cackled as he dashed out the front door, leaving Garet and Jenna alone once again. Hesitantly turning around, Garet chuckled breathily in a weak attempt to lighten the mood.

"Heh, uh, sorry about that… He's still just a dumb kid…"

Jenna shook her head somewhat vigourously and slowly stood up. "N-No, it's fine. I-I probably should've explained how I feel in a different way. A-Anyway, I should probably head home now. I promised Isaac I would go see him later, and he probably wants some muffins too."

"Oh, uh, okay, I'll let you go then," Garet responded dumbly, stepping aside from the door as Jenna hurriedly made her way over to it.

"Um…see you," she said awkwardly, hurrying off before Garet could even respond.

Shutting the door behind her, Garet leaned his back against it and slowly slid down. If there were ever a time to feel stupid about his actions, now was the time to do so. If he had just taken Jenna's words for what they were meant to be, instead of twisting them into some crazy imagination, then they wouldn't have had such an awkward moment. While this certainly wasn't the first awkward situation that had been created between the two of them, something about this time simply felt worse. In fact, it was probably his misinterpretation that caused her to feel so uncomfortable.

Hanging his head, Garet could only hope that Jenna would forget about this by the next time they saw each other. It shouldn't have made them as uncomfortable as it did, and he was annoyed that he had not tried to clear up his own misunderstanding right away. If he were lucky, then she would realize the stupidity of the whole situation, make some little quip about it, and the two would laugh it off like they should. Of this, he was quite hopeful.

Hope, however, would not be enough to swing luck in his favour…

* * *

Not gonna lie, I had some trouble writing this chapter, mainly because it was just a lot of dialogue with little to no events actually happening. For those who are curious, the last section of this chapter lines up with the beginning of [WiH] chapter four. The next [BF] chapter will line up with the rest of [WiH] chapter four and continue into [WiH] chapter five, though I haven't decided if it will coincide with all of [WiH] chapter five, considering the rather big event that occurs toward the end. That's not to mention all the subsequent events that occur in [WiH] chapter six, either.

Anyway, I doubt anyone is reading this and WiH at the same time, so it's probably only me who's worrying about timeline consistencies and whatnot. For anyone who is, I'll tell you right now that I'm being extremely anal about making sure everything lines up. Don't want to make any time paradoxes :P

Thanks to **Matthew Terra** for reviewing!

Thanks for reading and please review!

–_GengaJupite_


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